Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-12-22

stealthily AS man, carefully ap
preached the horse, and was only
few yards away when discovered
Then he trumpeted and made rush
His sudden appearance seemed t
strike the horse with terror, and h
made no move to escape. The grea
trunk, held alcft rs the beast charged
struck the horse ''side swipe" an,
! knocked him fiat, and he was n
sooner down than the elephant knel
upon him and kneaded him into blood.
pulp. When his vengeance was salts
fed he rose up and retreatei to tn
same thicket. sneaking along as if h
was seeking TO hide his trail. 1t wa
an hour later when l reached tn
spot, and l was SO angry over tn
death of my steed that nothing tn
men could say would stop me from
entering the thicket in search of tn
destroyer. Joe followed NE. bearin:
gun, and both of US were ready fo
any trick the beast might be up to
but we were too late. We found tn,
spot where he had stood for hours
and from which he had sailed out t.
attack the horse, but he had quietly
sneaked off. The elephant, when pur
suing an ordinary course through the
forest, leaves broad trail behind HIM
He breaks down branches, uprootS
small trees, and the prints of his biz
feet could be followed on horseback
at a gallop. This fellow had gone of
SO softly that we were half an hour in
picking up his trail. There was not a
broken branch, and he had set his feet
down with the utmost care, and select.
ed the hardest soil. After getting a
quarter of mile away he had selected
a rocky ridge to travel on. and we soon
lost him entirely.
Our camp was about three miles
from the spot where the horse was
killed. We always had one guard and
a couple of fires, and as there was only
the wild beast to look out for, we had
slept in perfect content. On this night,
soon after midnight, the guard awoke
me and stated that some danger
menaced the camp. He had heard
what he believed was a body of men
lurking about, and the bullocks seemed
greatly excited. The camp was aroused
as quietly as possible, the fires were
allowed to burn low, and in short
time the statements of the sentinel
were verified. Somebody or some
thing was lurking about. We were in
the lion country. but the movements
were too heavy for the king of beasts.
The noise passed clear around the
camp and back, and then all was quiet.
We were under arms for half an hour,
and then, all being still, We lay down,
and all but the sentinel were soon
asleep. An hour later, as suddenly as
if shot from the gun, the old solitary
Of the day charged into our camp,
trumpeting like the blasts from loco
motive. and evidently in a great rage.
1t was he who had been lurking about
for two or three hours. He had APP
preached the camp as carefully as
man could walk, and had passed around
it to locate every thing and decide on
a point to charge from. When we got
the alarm, he placed himself in the
shadow of some bushes, and the
natives, who examined the spot, said
he stood there for an hour and a halt
without moving foot.
Bloody and destructive work fol-
lowed the charge of the elephant. He
stepped on and crushed a sleeping
native, picked second up and dashed
him to the earth a corpse, and broke
the back of third who was trying to
get out of his way. He was soon
among the bullocks, knocking them
right and left with his terrible blows,
md just then got my gun ready. His
charge had been so sudden and fierce
hat we were all demOralized for two
,r three minutes. Fortunately for us
Ill, someone had the sense to throw !
some light brush on one of the dying
Tres and started big blaze. This
seemed to disconcert the elephant, and
lie showed signs of retrcating. In this ,
he was encouraged by two of our bull
ocks, who dashed at him for fight,
md raked him severely with their
stout horns. l was dancing about !
Waiting to get a shot. and I'll tell you
What l saw that elephant do. He
picked up n bullock weighing at least
line hundred pounds, and that with
lis trunk alone. and swung him aloft
IS easily as you can lift an axe over
our head He held him in the air
minute, and then flung him clean over
'ur Cape Colony wagon to the ground.
The bullock alighted on large heap
f freshly-cut grass. and was but little
injured. opened on the elephant
ust as he flung the bullock. and he at
nee bolted out of camp, carrying
hree bullets with him. He had
carcely got clear when he stepped
nto hole in the ground. lurched for
ward. and went down with a broken
eg. Before he could get on his feet
gain had given him his death blow.
lie had killed three men and four bull